Sweeper



March 10. 1925.

D. REYAM SWEEPER Filed July 14, 1922 Patented Mar. 10, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SWEEPER.

Application filed July 14, 1922. Serial No. 674,991.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID REYAM, a citizen of the United States,residing in Hollyoak, Delaware, have invented certain Improvements inSweepers, of which the following is a specification.

One object of my invention is to provide an improved sweeper of thegeneral type known as carpet sweepers including a brush and operatinghandle; the handle of my improved sweeper being operative to directlyeffect the movement of the brush to bear upon the floor, carpet or rugwith various degrees of friction so that the same sweeper can be usedfor light or heavy sweeping merely by a movement of the handle intodifferent positions.

Another object is to so construct the parts of my improved sweeper thatwhen the handle is moved into an upright position the brush will bemoved upward into such position that it will not contact with the floor;thereby relieving the bristles of the pressure and preventing flatteningof the rush when the sweeper stands idle for any length of time.

Another object is to make the parts of my invention of a simple anddurable construction so that they can be easily and quickly manufacturedand applied to a sweeper.

A still further object is to so arrange the parts of my invention thatthey can be easily moved into said various positions merely by aswinging movement of the operating handle.

These objects and other advantageous ends which will be set forthhereinafter I attain in the following manner reference being had to theaccompanying drawing in which Figure 1 represents an end elevation of asweeper having my invention thereon, the guard means being omitted forclearness,

Figure 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the sweeper shown in Figure1, and

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a yoked end guard which I referablyemploy.

Referring to the ilrawing, 4 represents a sweeper case which can be madeof sheet metal, wood or other suitable material, said case havin notchesor slots 5 in its opposite ends 6, sai notches extending upward from thebottom edges"! of said ends as clearly shown in Figure 1 of the drawin Arotatable brush 8 has its axle trunmons 9 extending outward through thenotches 5; the

brush proper being located within the case 4.

Floor-engaging wheels 10 support the case 4 in a manner illustrated inFigure 1. A brush wheel 11 is secured to each of th axle trunnions 9 andis located outside of the case in the present instance, so asto engageeach of the floor-engaging Wheels 10. Thus when the case is moved overthe floor on the wheels 10 the latter will impart rotation to the brushwheel 11 and to the brush 8 in a manner common with floor sweepers oithis type. the axes of the wheels 11 being in a plane slightly above theaxes of the wheels 10.

A handle 12 consists of a pole or stick 13 and a bail or "forked member14. said bail having a socket 15 or other suitable attaching device forthe pole 13. The bail 14 has arms 16 which embrace the opposite ends 6of the case 4, said arms terminating in cams 17, the cams being ivotallysecured by ivot-s 18 to the opposite ends of the case 4.

ach cam 17 has a cam slot 19 of such width as to allow the respectiveaxle trunnion 9 which projects through the adjacent end 6 of the case,to pass therethrough so that each axle trunnion is located within a camslot 19'. Each cam slot includes a portion 20 located at such distancefrom its pivot that when the respective axle trunnion is located thereinthe brush will engage slightly with the floor in a manner shown inFigure 1, the plane of the floor being illustrated by the line 21, thisarrangement being pos-. sible when the handle 12 is in the full lineposition shown in Figure 1. The portion 20 of the cam slot leads intoanother portion 22 of said .cam slot, said portion 22 being locatedcloser to the pivot 18 than istho ortion 20 so that when the handle isswung mto an upright position, shown by the dotand-dash line 23, thebrush will be raised clear of the floor or in other words above the line21. Each cam slot 19 includes another portion 24 which communicates withthe portion 22 and this portion 24 is located a greater distance fromthe pivot 18 than is the portion 20 so that when the handle is swun intothe position indicated by the dotandash line 25, the axle trunnion willpass into the portion 24 of the cam slot and will cause the brush tobear with a greater degree of friction upon the floor than when thetrunnions are m the portions 20 of the cam slots. The portions 20, 22and 24 of the cam slots are preferably made concentric so as to allow acertain amount of movement of the hand le, necessary for the proper ma?nipulation of the sweeper, without Varying the height of the brush. Forexample, as shown in Figure 1 the handle, when in any of the full anddot-and-dash line positions, can be swung slightly upward and downwardwithout raising or lowering the brush. Thus the necessary movements ofthe handle by a person operating the sweeper willnot change the hei htof the brush.

To compensate For the vertical movement of the brush wheels 11, thefloor-engaging wheels can be resiliently mounted in any suitable mannerso that the wheels at each end of the case can move further apart orcloser together and I have illustrated springs 26 bearing against theaxles of the floor-engaging wheels so that the floor-engaging I wheelswill always contact with the brush wheels 11 with 'suflicient frictionto cause the rotation of the brush.

' The cam slot 19 of each of the cams 17 has a mouth or opening 27 whichcan be moved into such position as to allow the brush to be removed fromthe case. This can be done b swinging the handle 12 until the mouths 2register with the notches 5 or in otherwords by swinging the handle 12into the position indicated by the dotand-dash line 28.

Owing to the construction illustrated and above described it will benoted that when the sweeper is o erated by pushing on the handle when intie full line position shown in Figure 1, the brush will sweep the floorlightly and if the sweeper is operated when the handle is in theposition indicated at 25 the brush will sweep heavily or with a greateramount of friction. Thus when it is desired to sweep heavy carpets orrugs and it is desired to cause the brush to bear heavily upon the same,the sweeper can be operated by moving it in one direction and if it isdesired to sweep lightly the sweeper can be actuated by pushing it in anopposite direction. Also when the -sweeper is not in use the handlecan'be moved into an upright position and the portions 22 of the camslots will raise the brush axle trunnions and the brush will be liftedclear off thefloor.

It will be noted that the raising and lowering movements of the brushcan be accomplished directly by the handle without any interposed meansand furthermore the device can be cheaply and quickly manufactured. 1

As a means for forming a guard and also serving as a buffer orprotecting means to revent the marring of furniture, I have illustratedyoked guards 29 which can be secured to the case and I preferablyprovided said guards with notches 30 for embracing the outer ends of thetrunnions 9; thus providing additional bearing for the brush axle. Ihave also illustrated a band 31 which can be made of soft felt,=rubberor other suitable material which acts as a cushion and surrounds theentire sweeper.

rotation of the brush the dirt will collect within the case.

While I have described my invention as taking a particular form, it willbe understood that the various parts of my invention may be changedwithout departing from the spirit thereof, and hence I donot limitmyself to the precise construction set forth, but consider that I am atlibertyto make such changes and alterations as fairly come within thescope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and {desire tosecure by Let ters Patent is 1. In a floor sweeper; a case; a brush; anoperating handle; and means movable by the swinging of the handle, saidmeans having cams thereon co-active with the brush to alter the heightthereof relatively to the floor, said cams having parts operative, whenthe handle is swung into operating positions at opposite sides of itsvertical position, to cause the brush to bear upon the floor withdifferent degrees of pressure and to maintain .said, different degreesof pressure during the necessary movement of the handle through arcscaused by the movement of the arm of the operator when moving thesweeper backward and forward over the floor, said cams having otherparts serving as the sole agents for moving and holding the brush out ofcontact with the floor when the handle is tending into said cam grooves.the parts of said grooves being at various distances from the pivotalaxis and being operative to move the-brush so as to contact with thefloor with various degrees of friction when the operating handle isswung into various operating positions whereby the sweeper can be usedfor light or heavy sweeping, said parts of the cam grooves includingportions of equal distances from said axis and of a length sufiieient toallow the handle to swing through arcs without varying the pressure ofthe brush on the floor, said cam grooves including other portionsoperative to move said brush. out of contact with the floor when thehandle is swung into an upright position, said latter portions being.located at distances from the pivotal axis differing from said otherdistances and being sufficiently extensive to allow the handle to swinga prescribed distance out of its vertical position to allow the handleto lean against a wall without causing the brush to contact with thefloor.

3. In a sweeper, a case; a brush carried by the case and havintrunnions; and an operating handle including a bail pivotally connectedto the case and having arms provided with cam grooves into which saidtrunnions extend, said grooves including three concentric portions atvarious distances from the pivotal connection of the bail with the case,two of said portions being effective upon the swinging of the handleinto different operating positions to cause the brush to be moved intovarious positions relatively to the floor for light and heavy sweeping,the other of said concentric portions being positioned between saidother two portions and being sufiiciently extensive to hold the brushout of contact with the floor when the handle is vertical or nearlyvertical.

4. In a sweeper, a case, a brush carried by the case, an operatinghandle, means operated by the handle to move the brush into contact withthe floor when the handle is moved into a position to push the case inone direction and constructed to allow the swingin of the handle to aprescribed extent witliout varying the intensity of the pressure of thebrush upon the floor during movement of the case in said direction,means operated by said handle to move the brush into contact with thefloor under greater pressure when the handle is moved into a position topush the case in an opposite direction, said latter means beingconstructed to allow the swinging of said handle to a prescribed extentduring movement of the case in said latter direction without varying theintensity of said greater pressure; and means operative by said handlewhen the handle is moved into another predetermined position to effectthe release of said pressures of said brush upon the floor when saidsweeper is not desired for use.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DAVID REYAM. Witnesses HARRY T. ROTENBU'RY, MARGUERITE PAUSART.

